1.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him

2.
Eric of Pomerania
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Eric of Pomerania KG was King Eric III of Norway, King Eric VII of Denmark, and King Eric XIII of Sweden, in all three known mainly as Erik af/av Pommern. He was the first King of the Nordic Kalmar Union, succeeding his adoptive mother Margaret I of Denmark, and was also Duke Eric I of Pomerania. Referring to Eric of Pomerania as King Eric XIII of Sweden is an invention, counting backwards from Eric XIV. Going back into prehistory, it is not known how many Swedish monarchs were named Eric before this one, born Boguslaw, he was the son of Wartislaw VII, Duke of Pomerania, and Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Erics paternal grandparents were Boguslaw V, Duke of Pomerania and his second wife Adelheid of Brunswick-Grubenhagen and his maternal grandparents were Henry III, Duke of Mecklenburg and Ingeborg of Denmark, Duchess of Mecklenburg. Their son Albert was a rival of Olaf Haakonsson in regard to the Danish succession in 1375, Ingeborg was a daughter of Valdemar IV of Denmark and his Queen consort Heilwig of Schleswig. Eric was born in 1382 in Rügenwalde, initially named Boguslaw, he was son to the only surviving grandson of Valdemar IV of Denmark and also a descendant of Magnus III of Sweden and Haakon V of Norway. On 2 August 1387, Olav Håkonsson, King of Denmark since he was five years old and King of Norway since the death of his father, died unexpectedly at seventeen years of age. His mother the Dowager Queen of Norway had added the phrase the true heir of Sweden to Boguslaws list of titles at his coronation, Boguslaws claim to the Swedish throne came through his great-granduncle, Magnus IV of Sweden, who was forced to abdicate by the Swedish nobles. After the abdication, the Swedish nobles, led by Bo Jonsson, had invited Duke Albert of Mecklenburg to take the Swedish throne, however, when Albert attempted to introduce reduction of their large estates, they quickly turned against him. The Rigsråd elected Queen Margaret as all powerful lady and mistress, just a year later, the Norwegians proclaimed Margaret the reigning queen and Albert of Sweden fought off an incursion from Norway. His respite was temporary — the Swedish nobility soon enlisted the Danish regents help to remove Albert from the Swedish throne, in 1388, several of the Swedish nobles wrote secretly to Margaret telling her that if she could rid them of Albert, they would make her Regent. Margaret lost no time and sent an army into Sweden to attack Albert while the Swedish nobles raised their own army to him out of the country. In 1389, Alberts forces were defeated at the Battle of Falköping in Västergötland, Albert and his son Erik were captured when their horses became mired in mud so deep they could not escape. They were put into chains and sent by Queen Margaret to Scania and it took until 1395 for Margaret to force Alberts supporters out of Stockholm. She made provisions for the three kingdoms in the event of her death and she wanted the kingdoms to be unified and peaceful and hence, chose the son of her fathers surviving granddaughter, Boguslaw, to be named heir. Young Boguslaw was the grandson of Margarets sister, in 1389 he was brought to Denmark to be brought up by Queen Margaret. His name was changed to the more Nordic-sounding Erik, on 8 September 1389, he was hailed as King of Norway at the Ting in Trondheim

3.
Aragon
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Aragon is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces, Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel, the current Statute of Autonomy declares Aragon a nationality of Spain. Aragons northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees, within Spain, the community is flanked by Catalonia to the east, Valencia and Castile–La Mancha to the south, and Castile and León, La Rioja, and Navarre to the west. Aragon is home to many rivers—most notably, the river Ebro, Spains largest river in volume and it is also home to the Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. As of 2015, the population of Aragon was 1,317,847, with more than half of it living in Zaragoza. As of 2015, half of Aragons population,50. 45%, Huesca is the only other city in the region with a population greater than 50,000. The majority of Aragonese citizens,71. 8%, live in the province of Zaragoza,17. 1% in Huesca and 11. 1% in Teruel, the population density of the region is the second lowest in Spain, only 26, 8/km2, after Castilla La Mancha. Only four cities have more than 20,000 inhabitants, Zaragoza 700,000, Huesca 50,000, Teruel 35,000 and Calatayud 20,000. Spanish is the language in most of Aragon, and it is the only official language, understood. The strip-shaped Catalan-speaking area in Aragon is often called La Franja, with such a low population density large areas of Aragon remain wild and relatively untouched. It is a land of natural contrasts, both in climate and geologically, from the green valleys and snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees to the dry plains. Aragons Pyrenees include splendid and varied mountain landscapes with soaring peaks, deep canyons, dense forests and its rugged peaks include the Aneto, the highest in the range, the misty Monte Perdido, Perdiguero, Cotiella and many others. The park is one of the last sanctuaries of birds of prey in the range. Many beautiful mountain butterflies and flowers can be seen in the summer, the principal valleys in the mountains include those of Hecho, Canfranc, Tena, Benasque and others. The green valleys hide pretty villages with nice Romanesque churches and typical Pyrenean houses with flowers on the balconies, the oldest Romanesque cathedral in Spain is located in the medieval town of Jaca in the very northern part of Huesca Province. In the Pyrenean foothills, or pre-Pyrenees, the Mallos de Riglos are a natural rock formation. Ancient castles nestle on lonely hills, the most famous being the magnificent Loarre Castle, further south, the Ebro valley, irrigated by the river Ebro, is a rich and fertile agricultural area covered with vast fields of wheat, barley and other fruit and vegetable crops. Many beautiful and little-known settlements, castles and Roman ruins dot the landscape here, some of the most notable towns here include Calatayud, Daroca, Sos del Rey Catolico, Caspe and others

4.
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes referred to simply as Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula. It has had permanent settlement since the Neolithic Age when it was peopled by Illyrians, christianity arrived in the 1st century, and by the 4th century the area became part of the Western Roman Empire. Germanic tribes invaded soon after, followed by Slavs in the 6th Century, in 1136, Béla II of Hungary invaded Bosnia and created the title Ban of Bosnia as an honorary title for his son Ladislaus II of Hungary. During this time, Bosnia became virtually autonomous, and was proclaimed a kingdom in 1377. The Ottoman Empire followed in 1463 and lasted over 400 years and they wrought great changes to the political and administrative system, introduced land reforms, and class and religious distinctions. A series of uprisings began 1831, which culminated in the Herzegovinian rebellion, the conflict eventually forced the Ottomans to cede administration of the country to Austria-Hungary through the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi forces in World War II, and Bosnia was ceded to the Independent State of Croatia, three years of war began in 1992 which caused around 100,000 deaths and 2 million refugees. Bosnia has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times, in the late Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the 4th and 3rd century BCE displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former lands, concrete historical evidence for this period is scarce, but overall it appears that the region was populated by a number of different peoples speaking distinct languages. Christianity had already arrived in the region by the end of the 1st century, following events from the years 337 and 395 when the Empire split, Dalmatia and Pannonia were included in the Western Roman Empire. The region was conquered by the Ostrogoths in 455, and further exchanged hands between the Alans and Huns in the years to follow, by the 6th century, Emperor Justinian had re-conquered the area for the Byzantine Empire. More South Slavs came in a wave, and according to some scholars were invited by Emperor Heraclius to drive the Avars from Dalmatia. Modern knowledge of Bosnia in the western Balkans during the Dark Ages is patchy and it was also around this time that the Bosnians were Christianized. Bosnia, due to its position and terrain, was probably one of the last areas to go through this process. It is only from the 9th century that Frankish and Byzantine sources begin to mention early Slavic polities in the region, however, they all too often found themselves in a tug-of-war between Hungary and the Byzantine Empire. In the year of 1137, Hungary annexes most of Bosnia, the first recorded Ban was Ban Borić, vassal to the Hungarian king. However, he was deposed when he backed the loser in a crisis over the Hungarian throne. In 1167, Byzantium reconquered Bosnia and eventually emplaced their own vassal as Ban – the native Ban Kulin, however, this vassalage was largely nominal, and Bosnia had for all practical purposes made itself into an independent state under Kulin

5.
History of Bulgaria
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The history of Bulgaria can be traced from the first settlements on the lands of modern Bulgaria to its formation as a nation-state and includes the history of the Bulgarian people and their origin. The earliest evidence of human occupation discovered on what is today Bulgaria date from at least 1.4 million years ago, around 5000 BC, a sophisticated civilization already existed and produced some of the first pottery and jewelry in the world. After 3000 BC, the Thracians appeared on the Balkan peninsula, in the late 6th century BC, most of what is nowadays Bulgaria came under the Persian Empire. This mixture of ancient peoples was assimilated by the Slavs, who settled on the peninsula after 500 AD. Meanwhile, in 632 the Bulgars formed an independent state north of the Black sea that became known as Great Bulgaria under the leadership of Kubrat, pressure from the Khazars led to the disintegration of Great Bulgaria in the second half of the 7th century. A peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 and the establishment of a permanent Bulgarian capital at Pliska south of the Danube mark the beginning of the First Bulgarian Empire, the new state brought together Thracian remnants and Slavs under Bulgar rule, and a slow process of mutual assimilation began. In the following centuries Bulgaria established itself as an empire, dominating the Balkans through its aggressive military traditions. In the 11th century, the First Bulgarian Empire collapsed under Rus and Byzantine attacks, then, a major uprising led by two brothers - Asen and Peter of the Asen dynasty, restored the Bulgarian state to form the Second Bulgarian Empire. A peasant rebellion, one of the few such in history. His short reign was essential in recovering - at least partially - the integrity of the Bulgarian state, a relatively thriving period followed after 1300, but ended in 1371, when factional divisions caused Bulgaria to split into three small Tsardoms. By 1396, they were subjugated by the Ottoman Empire, the Turks eliminated the Bulgarian system of nobility and ruling clergy, and Bulgaria remained an integral Turkish territory for the next 500 years. With the decline of the Ottoman Empire after 1700, signs of revival started to emerge, the Bulgarian nobility had vanished, leaving an egalitarian peasant society with a small but growing urban middle class. The initial Treaty of San Stefano was rejected by the Western Great Powers, and the following Treaty of Berlin limited Bulgarias territories to Moesia and the region of Sofia. This left many ethnic Bulgarians out of the borders of the new state, after World War II, Bulgaria became a Communist state, dominated by Todor Zhivkov for a period of 35 years. Bulgarias economic advancement during the era came to an end in the 1980s, Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007. The earliest human remains found in Bulgaria have been excavated in the Kozarnika cave and this cave probably keeps the earliest evidence of human symbolic behaviour ever found. Human remains found in Bacho Kiro cave that are 44,000 years old consist of a pair of fragmented human jaws, the earliest dwellings in Bulgaria - the Stara Zagora Neolithic dwellings - date from 6,000 BC and are amongst the oldest man-made structures yet discovered. By the end of the neolithic, the Hamangia and Vinča culture developed on what is today Bulgaria, southern Romania, the earliest known town in Europe, Solnitsata, was located in present-day Bulgaria

6.
History of the Byzantine Empire
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This history of the Byzantine Empire covers the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period during which the Roman Empires east and west divided. In 285, the emperor Diocletian partitioned the Roman Empires administration into eastern and western halves, between 324 and 330, Constantine I transferred the main capital from Rome to Byzantium, later known as Constantinople and Nova Roma. Under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion, and finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military and administration were restructured and adopted Greek for official use instead of Latin. The borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through cycles of decline. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia as a homeland, the final centuries of the Empire exhibited a general trend of decline. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Roman Empire, during the 3rd century, three crises threatened the Roman Empire, external invasions, internal civil wars and an economy riddled with weaknesses and problems. The city of Rome gradually became important as an administrative centre. The crisis of the 3rd century displayed the defects of the system of government that Augustus had established to administer his immense dominion. His successors had introduced some modifications, but events made it clearer that a new, more centralized, Diocletian was responsible for creating a new administrative system. He associated himself with a co-emperor, or Augustus, each Augustus was then to adopt a young colleague, or Caesar, to share in the rule and eventually to succeed the senior partner. After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, however, the tetrachy collapsed, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire, and introduced important changes into its civil and religious constitution. Constantine also began the building of the fortified walls, which were expanded. Constantine built upon the administrative reforms introduced by Diocletian and he stabilized the coinage, and made changes to the structure of the army. Under Constantine, the Empire had recovered much of its military strength and he also reconquered southern parts of Dacia, after defeating the Visigoths in 332, and he was planning a campaign against Sassanid Persia as well. In the course of the 4th century, four great sections emerged from these Constantinian beginnings, Constantine established the principle that emperors should not settle questions of doctrine, but should summon general ecclesiastical councils for that purpose

7.
History of Denmark
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The history of Denmark as a unified kingdom began in the 8th century, but historic documents describe the geographic area and the people living there - the Danes -, as early as 500 AD. These early documents include the writings of Jordanes and Procopius, with the Christianization of the Danes c.960 AD, it is clear that there existed a kingship in Scandinavia, controlling the current Danish territory roughly speaking. Queen Margrethe II can trace her back to the Viking kings Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth from this time. The area we now know as Denmark, has a rich prehistory, having been populated by prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years. Denmark was long in disputes with Sweden over control of Skånelandene and with Germany over control of Schleswig, eventually, Denmark lost these conflicts and ended up ceding first Skåneland to Sweden and later Schleswig-Holstein to the German Empire. After the eventual cession of Norway in 1814, Denmark retained control of the old Norwegian colonies of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. During the 20th century, Iceland gained independence, Greenland and the Faroese became integral parts of the Kingdom of Denmark and North Schleswig reunited with Denmark in 1920 after a referendum. During World War II, Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany, in the aftermaths of World War II, and with the emergence of the subsequent Cold War, Denmark was quick to join the military alliance of NATO as a founding member in 1949. The Scandinavian region has a rich prehistory, having been populated by prehistoric cultures and people for about 12,000 years. During the ice age, all of Scandinavia was covered by glaciers most of the time, when the ice began retreating, the barren tundras were soon inhabited by reindeer and elk and Ahrenburg and Swiderian hunters from the south followed them here to hunt occasionally. The geography then was very different from what we know today, as the climate warmed up, forceful rivers of meltwater started to flow and shape the virgin lands, and a more stable flora and fauna gradually began emerging in Scandinavia and Denmark in particular. The first human settlers to inhabit Denmark and Scandinavia permanently was the Maglemosian people, residing in seasonal camps and it was not until around 6,000 BC that the geography of Denmark as we know it today had been shaped approximately. Denmark has some unique conditions for preservation of artifacts, providing a rich. The Weichsel glaciation covered all of Denmark most of the time and it ended around 13,000 years ago allowing humans to move back into the previously ice-covered territories and establish permanent habitation. During the first post-glacial millennia the landscape changed from tundra to light forest. Early pre-historic cultures uncovered in modern Denmark include the Maglemosian Culture, the Kongemose culture, the Ertebølle culture, and the Funnelbeaker culture. The Koelbjerg Man is the oldest known bog body in the world and also the oldest set of bones found in Denmark. With a continuing rise in temperature the oak, elm and hazel arrived in Denmark around 7,000 BC, now boar, red deer, and roe deer also began to abound

8.
History of France
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The first written records for the history of France appear in the Iron Age. The Gauls, the largest and best attested group, were Celtic people speaking what is known as the Gaulish language, over the course of the 1st millennium BC the Greeks, Romans and Carthaginians established colonies on the Mediterranean coast and the offshore islands. Afterwards a Gallo-Roman culture emerged and Gaul was increasingly integrated into the Roman Empire, in the later stages of the Roman Empire, Gaul was subject to barbarian raids and migration, most importantly by the Germanic Franks. The Frankish king Clovis I united most of Gaul under his rule in the late 5th century, Frankish power reached its fullest extent under Charlemagne. The war formally began in 1337 following Philip VIs attempt to seize the Duchy of Aquitaine from its holder, Edward III of England. Despite early Plantagenet victories, including the capture and ransom of John II of France, among the notable figures of the war was Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who led French forces against the English, establishing herself as a national heroine. The war ended with a Valois victory in 1453, victory in the Hundred Years War had the effect of strengthening French nationalism and vastly increasing the power and reach of the French monarchy. During the period known as the Ancien Régime, France transformed into an absolute monarchy. During the next centuries, France experienced the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, Henry, King of Navarre, scion of the Bourbon family, would be victorious in the conflict and establish the French Bourbon dynasty. A burgeoning worldwide colonial empire was established in the 16th century, French political power reached a zenith under the rule of Louis XIV, The Sun King, builder of Versailles Palace. In the late 18th century the monarchy and associated institutions were overthrown in the French Revolution, the country was governed for a period as a Republic, until the French Empire was declared by Napoleon Bonaparte. France was one of the Triple Entente powers in World War I, fighting alongside the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Japan, the United States and smaller allies against Germany and the Central Powers. France was one of the Allied Powers in World War II, the Third Republic was dismantled, and most of the country was controlled directly by Germany while the south was controlled until 1942 by the collaborationist Vichy government. Living conditions were harsh as Germany drained away food and manpower, Charles de Gaulle led the Free France movement that one-by-one took over the colonial empire, and coordinated the wartime Resistance. Following liberation in summer 1944, a Fourth Republic was established, France slowly recovered economically, and enjoyed a baby boom that reversed its very low fertility rate. Long wars in Indochina and Algeria drained French resources and ended in political defeat, in the wake of the Algerian Crisis of 1958, Charles de Gaulle set up the French Fifth Republic. Into the 1960s decolonization saw most of the French colonial empire become independent, while smaller parts were incorporated into the French state as overseas departments, since World War II France has been a permanent member in the UN Security Council and NATO. It played a role in the unification process after 1945 that led to the European Union

9.
History of Georgia (country)
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The country of Georgia was first unified as a single kingdom in 1008 AD, arising from the ancient predecessor states of Colchis and Iberia. The Kingdom of Georgia flourished and reached its Golden Age during the 10th to 13th centuries under King David IV, lasting for several centuries, the kingdom fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by the 1340s. Throughout the early period, Georgia fell into decline as it clashed against various hostile empires, including Ottoman Empire. The kingdoms geopolitical situation further worsened after the Fall of Constantinople, as a result of these processes, by the end of the 15th century Georgia turned into an isolated, Christian enclave, surrounded by hostile Turco-Iranic neighbors with which it had little in common. Renewed incursions beginning in 1386 led to the collapse of the kingdom by 1493. Georgia’s geopolitical landscape began to shift in 1783, when the struggling Eastern Georgia forged an alliance with the Russian Empire and this led to the gradual, forced annexation of Georgia by Russia starting in 1801. Present-day Georgia has been independent since the Soviet collapse in 1991, post-communist Georgia was almost immediately beset by Russian-backed separatist rebellions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It also suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s and this lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, when Georgia pursued a strongly pro-Western foreign policy, introducing major economic and democratic reforms. Notwithstanding these crises and the change of political forces in the country, as a developing economy, Georgia made significant changes, moving from a near-failed state in 2003 to a relatively well-functioning market economy in 2014. In 2014, Georgia joined the European Unions Free Trade Area, evidence for the earliest occupation of the territory of present-day Georgia goes back to c.1.8 million years ago, as evident from the excavations of Dmanisi in the south-eastern part of the country. This is the oldest evidence of humans in Europe, later prehistoric remains are known from numerous cave and open-air sites in Georgia. Numerous excavations in tell settlements of the Shulaveri-Shomu type have been conducted since the 1960s, the earliest evidence of wine to date has been found in Georgia, where 8000-year old wine jars were uncovered. Early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, associated with the Shulaveri-Shomu culture, from the beginning of the 4th millennium, metals became used to larger extend in East Georgia and in the whole Transcaucasian region. These dwellings were circular or oval in plan, a feature being the central pier. These features were used and further developed in building Georgian dwellings, in the Chalcolithic period of the fourth and third millennia BC, Georgia and eastern Asia Minor were home to the Kura-Araxes culture, giving way in the second millennium BC. to the Trialeti culture. Archaeological excavations have brought to light the remains of settlements at Beshtasheni and Ozni, together, they testify to an advanced and well-developed culture of building and architecture. Diauehi, a union of early-Georgians, first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. Between 2100 and 750 BC, the area survived the invasions by the Hittites, Urartians, Medes, at the same period, the ethnic unity of Proto-Kartvelians broke up into several branches, among them Svans, Zans/Chans and East-Kartvelians

10.
History of Germany
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Following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Franks conquered the other West Germanic tribes. When the Frankish Empire was divided among Charlemagnes heirs in 843, in 962, Otto I became the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the medieval German state. In the High Middle Ages, the dukes, princes. Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church after 1517, as the states became Protestant. The two parts of the Holy Roman Empire clashed in the Thirty Years War, which was ruinous to the twenty million civilians living in both states. The Thirty Years War brought tremendous destruction to Germany, more than 1/4 of the population,1648 marked the effective end of the Holy Roman Empire and the beginning of the modern nation-state system, with Germany divided into numerous independent states, such as Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony. After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, feudalism fell away, the Industrial Revolution modernized the German economy, led to the rapid growth of cities and to the emergence of the Socialist movement in Germany. Prussia, with its capital Berlin, grew in power, German universities became world-class centers for science and the humanities, while music and the arts flourished. The new Reichstag, a parliament, had only a limited role in the imperial government. Germany joined the other powers in colonial expansion in Africa and the Pacific, Germany was the dominant power on the continent. By 1900, its rapidly expanding industrial economy passed Britains, allowing a naval race, Germany led the Central Powers in World War I against France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States. Defeated and partly occupied, Germany was forced to pay war reparations by the Treaty of Versailles and was stripped of its colonies as well as Polish areas and Alsace-Lorraine. The German Revolution of 1918–19 deposed the emperor and the kings and princes, leading to the establishment of the Weimar Republic. In the early 1930s, the worldwide Great Depression hit Germany hard, as unemployment soared, in 1933, the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler came to power and quickly established a totalitarian regime. Political opponents were killed or imprisoned, after forming a pact with the Soviet Union in 1939, Hitler and Stalin divided Eastern Europe. After a Phoney War in spring 1940 the German blitzkrieg swept Scandinavia, only the British Commonwealth and Empire stood opposed, along with Greece. Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in 1942, the German invasion of the Soviet Union faltered, and after the United States had entered the war, Britain became the base for massive Anglo-American bombings of German cities. Germany fought the war on multiple fronts through 1942–1944, however following the Allied invasion of Normandy, millions of ethnic Germans fled from Communist areas into West Germany, which experienced rapid economic expansion, and became the dominant economy in Western Europe

11.
History of Hungary
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For the history of the area before this period, see Pannonian basin before Hungary. The oldest archaeological site in Hungary is Vértesszőlős, where palaeolithic Oldowan pebble tools, the Roman Empire conquered territory west of the Danube River between 35 and 9 BC. From 9 BC to the end of the 4th century AD, Pannonia, among the first to arrive were the Huns, who built up a powerful empire under Attila the Hun in 435 AD. Attila was regarded in past centuries as a ruler of the Hungarians. They entered what is now Hungary in the 7th century AD, the Avar Khaganate was weakened by constant wars and outside pressure, and the Franks under Charlemagne managed to defeat the Avars to end their 250-year rule. Árpád was the leader who unified the Magyar tribes via the Covenant of Blood and he led the new nation to the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century. Between 895 and 902 the whole area of the Carpathian Basin was conquered by the Hungarians, an early Hungarian state was formed in this territory in 895. The military power of the nation allowed the Hungarians to conduct successful fierce campaigns, Prince Géza of the Árpád dynasty, who ruled only part of the united territory, was the nominal overlord of all seven Magyar tribes. He aimed to integrate Hungary into Christian Western Europe by rebuilding the state according to the Western political and social models, Géza established a dynasty by naming his son Vajk as his successor. This decision was contrary to the dominant tradition of the time to have the eldest surviving member of the ruling family succeed the incumbent. By ancestral right, Prince Koppány, the oldest member of the dynasty, should have claimed the throne, Koppány did not relinquish his ancestral rights without a fight. After Gézas death in 997, Koppány took up arms, the rebels claimed to represent the old political order, ancient human rights, tribal independence and pagan belief. Stephen won a victory over his uncle Koppány and had him executed. Hungary was recognized as a Catholic Apostolic Kingdom under Saint Stephen I, Stephen was the son of Géza and thus a descendant of Árpád. Stephen was crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary in the first day of 1000 AD in the city of Esztergom. Pope Sylvester II conferred on him the right to have the cross carried before him, with full authority over bishoprics. By 1006, Stephen had solidified his power by eliminating all rivals who either wanted to follow the old traditions or wanted an alliance with the Eastern Christian Byzantine Empire. Then he initiated sweeping reforms to convert Hungary into a feudal state, complete with forced Christianization

12.
Navarre
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The first documented use of a name resembling Navarra, Nafarroa, or Naparroa is a reference to navarros, in Eginhards early 9th Century chronicle of the feats of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. Other Royal Frankish Annals feature nabarros, there are two proposed etymologies for the name. Basque nabar, brownish, multicolor (i. e. in contrast to the mountainous lands north of the original County of Navarre. Basque naba, valley, plain + Basque herri, the linguist Joan Coromines considers naba to be linguistically part of a wider Vasconic or Aquitanian language substrate, rather than Basque per se. During the Roman Empire, the Vascones, a tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the mountainous north, the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement, not so the flatter areas to the south, which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming—vineyards, olives, and wheat crops. Neither the Visigoths nor the Franks ever completely subjugated the area, the Vascones included neighbouring tribes as of the 7th century. In AD778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass and that kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of King Sancho III, comprising most of the Christian realms to the south of the Pyrenees, and even a short overlordship of Gascony. When Sancho III died in 1035, the Kingdom of Navarre was divided between his sons and it never fully recovered its political power, while its commercial importance increased as traders and pilgrims poured into the kingdom throughout the Way of Saint James. In 1200, Navarre lost the key western Basque districts to Alphonse VIII of Castile, Navarre then contributed with a small but symbolic force of 200 knights to the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 against the Almohads. The native line of kings came to an end in 1234, however, the Navarrese kept most of their strong laws and institutions. To the south of the Pyrenees, Navarre was annexed to the Crown of Castile, but keeping a separate status. A Chartered Government was established, and the managed to keep home rule. After the 1839 Convention of Bergara, a version of home rule was passed in 1839. The relocation of customs from the Ebro river to the Pyrenees in 1841 prompted the collapse of Navarre’s customary cross-Pyrenean trade, amid instability in Spain, Carlists took over in Navarre and the rest of the Basque provinces. The end of the Third Carlist War saw a wave of Spanish centralization directly affecting Navarre. In 1893-1894 the Gamazada popular uprising took place centred in Pamplona against Madrids governmental decisions breaching the 1841 chartered provisions. Except for a faction, all parties in Navarre agreed on the need for a new political framework based on home rule within the Laurak Bat

Eric of Pomerania KG (1381 or 1382 – 24 September 1459) was King Eric (Eirik) III of Norway (1389–1442), King Eric VII …

Image: Eric VII the Pomeranian of Denmark (photo 2010) crop

A contemporary depiction of the king

Eric of Pomerania with Margaret I of Denmark at his coronation

Royal seal of Eric of Pomerania (1398) depicting: (Centre): a lion rampant crowned maintaining an axe (representing Norway) within an inescutcheon upon a cross over all; Quarterly: in Dexter Chief, three lions passant in pale crowned and maintaining a Danebrog upon a semy of hearts (representing Denmark); in Sinister Chief: three crowns (representing Sweden or the Kalmar Union); in Dexter Base: a lion rampant (Folkung lion) (representing Sweden); and in Sinister Base: a griffin segreant to sinister (representing Pomerania).

The history of Denmark as a unified kingdom began in the 8th century, but historic documents describe the geographic …

Stone Dolmen near Vinstrup, Nørhald. Built in the 3rd millennium BC.

The famous Trundholm sun chariot (called Solvognen in Danish), a sculpture of the sun pulled by a mare. Scholars have dated it to some time in the 15th century BC and believe that it illustrates an important concept expressed in Nordic Bronze Age mythology.

The silver Gundestrup Cauldron, with what some scholars interpret as Celtic depictions, exemplifies the trade relations of the period.

The extent of the Danish Realm before the expansion of the Viking Age. It is not known when, but the tribal Danes divided the realm into "herreder" (marked by red lines).

The arrival of the Portuguese in Japan, the first Europeans who managed to reach it, initiating the Nanban ("southern barbarian") period of active commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West.